Pennsylvania should be able to avoid a tax increase for the 2007-08 fiscal year, based on newly announced revenue data.

Unless Gov. Ed Rendell can provide conclusive evidence otherwise, the General Assembly should deep-six all of the governor's plans for tax and fee increases for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

Imposing a tax increase when one really isn't necessary would simply provide state government with money to squander on items now deemed non-essential.

Taxpayers should not be saddled with a bigger burden when necessity for that added burden cannot be substantiated.

According to revenue data made public Thursday, state revenue collections through the end of May exceeded estimates by $409 million, due partly to higher-than-expected personal-income tax payments. The data reveal that year-to-date collections for the state's general fund totaled $24.8 billion, about 2 percent higher than anticipated.

Personal-income tax revenue — $9.3 billion for the year to date — was about $238 million more than expected. Corporation tax collections of $4.9 billion for the year so far exceeded the state's estimate by nearly $220 million.

The only negative was on the sales tax front, where the receipts of $7.8 billion were approximately $42 million less than expected.

With nearly a month left in the current fiscal year, there is time for that rosy fiscal picture to improve even more, or deteriorate slightly.

However, it seems that under either scenario, there is no justification for the kind of tax increases Rendell proposed when he introduced his 2007-08 budget proposal earlier this year. One of Rendell's proposals calls for increasing the sales tax to 7 percent from 6 percent.

Last week, the House approved and sent to the Senate a version of Rendell's budget calling for no tax hikes.

"The surplus strengthens our view that this budget can and should be done on time with no tax increases," said a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, wasn't as optimistic, but wasn't pessimistic, when he said "we must still pursue cost containment and/or other funding sources in order to enact next year's budget."

That focus on cost containment should be a standing resolve, not one limited to budget time.

Doug Rohanna, a spokesman for the governor, said Thursday it was premature to say whether the administration would push for any tax increases to help fund Rendell's $27.3 billion 2007-08 spending proposal. However, Rendell shouldn't press a need that doesn't really exist.

To whatever degree they played a role, the administration and legislature deserve praise for keeping the commonwealth's fiscal picture so in line that a surplus is a possibility.

The optimistic statement from Pileggi's spokesman suggests that this year's budget process can be concluded without turmoil.

With good news on the tax-receipt front in this final month of the fiscal year, there might even be an opportunity to bolster the state's Rainy Day Fund, which is money set aside for a time when revenue falls short.

Rendell and the legislature should not ignore that possibility as they iron out final details of the new budget package.